Brake for car-wheels.



F. L. DUNAWAY.

BRAKE FOR CAR WHEELS.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. I, IaIa.

1 1 98,999 f Patented Sept. 19, 1916.

n 4snr `Frr lessere@ FRANK L..DUNAWAY, OF'MONTGGMERY, WEST VIRGINIA.

'BRAKE FOR AR-WHEELS.

' Application led February To all 'whom 'it may concern.'

f 'Be it known that l, FRANK L. DUNAWAX, a citizen of the United States, residing at Montgomery, in the county of Fayette and State ot West Virginia, have invented certain new and useullmprovements in Brakes for Car-Wheels; and ll do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the samef My invention relates to railway rolling stock, but more particularly to brake beams and means for associating or mountingsuch beams upon car trucks in operative relation to the wheels thereof.

In practice the wear Aupon brake shoes is naturally very great, especially in freight service, and for this reason such shoes are invariably made of, renewable construction. Old worn shoes are constantly being replaced by new, the aim being to make such substitution as soon as it is discovered that a shoe has worn down to or below the seven pound limit of Weight. Obviously, ,however, this discovery can not' always be made in time to prevent serious damage to the equipment, such as wearing away the entire shoe, and grinding`v into the ubrake head itself. This mutilation of brake heads frequently continues until as a consequence, the key by means of which brake shoes and heads are ordinarily interlocked, is in turn` cut out, whereupon the entire brake beam -occasionally falls upon the* tracks below,

'- often causing derailments and more serious accidents To prevent such derangements and falling of brake beams, various safety devices have been resorted to with a greater or less degree of efciency, but ,these as a rule are cumbersome, noisy, unsatisfactory, and expensive to maintain. j

f (lne object of the present invention, therefore, is to correct-the difficulties above mentioned, by the substitution of simple, ineX- pensive and reliable' means for supporting brake beams in operative position.

A further Objectis to eliminate the ordinary orm of pendulum or sus ension brake beam hangers with their attending and well recognized diiliculties and disadvantages,

AI further object is to`so position brake shoes with -relation'l to their respective carwheels that they will wearuniformly and prevent the defects commonly known. ase overlapped and beveled shoes.

Specication ofrLetters Patent. Patented Sept. 119', i916,

7', 1916. serial No. 76,658.

A f'urther object is to insure uniformity 1n height above tracks of all brake beams mounted by agency of my invention.

With the foregoing and other objects and advantages in view the present invention will be hereinafter particularly described, and thenA pointed out by the claims following. v

ln the accompanying drawings which form part ofthis application for Letters Patent, and whereon like numerals indicatecorresponding parts in the several views: Figure 1 is a side elevation of a four-wheel car truck of substantially the Bettendorf type, having. my invention applied thereto. Fig. 2 is a transverse section through truck .frame taken on the line 2 2 of Fig. l, showy lng carwheels and tracks in dotted lines, and Fig. 3 is a relatively enlarged fragmentary view in side elevation, showing my invention in operative relation, with side frame broken. away disclosing a brake head, shoe, and'quadrant of lines, with brake set. i i

Reference being had tothe drawings and vnumealsthereon,` 1 indicates a truck frame of any approved construction and material except that its Weblike sides at 2, 2, are formed solid e to approximately a median horizontal `line,as shown by Figs. l and 2.

, The said side webs 2, 2 are broken by slots a lcar wheel in full or elongated openings 3, 3 angularly arranged, as shown by Figs. 1 and 3, each of said slots being Hanked by inwardly extendingand correspondingly slotted bosses 4 of uniform length as clearly indicated by Fig. 2.v These slots'andV slotted bosses with their angular arrangement are for purposes' diameter slightly less than the width of slots 3, thereby permitting it to slide readily from end to end of its said supporting slots andis retained against longitudinal movement by end washers 6, and cotter pins 7 in the well understood manner of securing such elements. Impaled and pivotally supported upon the said bar 5, near opposite ends thereof, are ordinary standard brake-heads 8, 8,

the said rod passing completely through transverse openings which in standard heads are designed to receive ordinary depending brake-beam hangers. Byreference to Fig. 2 it will be observed that the slotted bosses 4: are arranged and adapted to oii'set the brakeheads 8 and maintain them in exact vertical. alinement with the car wheels 9 at all times. While within these heads 8 are detachably but firmly `secured as by means of the usual key 10 an ordinary brake shoe 1l, as best shown by Fig. 3, and, as customary in car i braking apparatus, each pair of brake heads 8, 8 are connected by an intervening brakebeam 12 of any approved construction, by agency of which power is applied.

This being a description of my invention in one form of embodiment it should be understood that I do not consider myself limited to the particular arrangement and combination of elements shown and described. On the contrary, these may be variously modified, changed and rearranged without in the least departing from the spirit oit myinvention, and to all such adaptations l lay claim the same as if herein set forth.`

The operation of my invention is as :tol-

lows: When the 'brakes are not' in action,

'hanger'bar 5 will naturally gravitate, more or less, toward the lowermost ends of slots 3, thusV withdrawing its coperating shoes 11 romvcontact with the wheels 9, this automatic action being facilitated by vibration ofthe truck when in motion, although it -will be noted that the angularity of these slots is such as to insure the same results if thetruck is motionless, If now. the brakes are applied by the ordinary and well understood means, the bars 5 are caused to vascend theirrespective slots-3 to the position indi-V cated by Fig. 3, thereby applying brake shoes 11 evenly and uniformly to the tread surfaces of wheels 9. And it will be particularly noted that this outward movement of rods 5 is positivelyv limited by the length of the said slots 3, upon reaching the ends of' which further movement of the shoes 11 becomes impossible. As a consequence, shoes cannot be worn down beyond the fixed limit of safety, nor can the brake heads be forced into contact with 'car wheels, thus obviatin'g Witnesses:

Bettendo-rf or Vulcan frames, or other' frames of skeleton form, so asto bridge any openings which occur therein at points where slots 3,- had best be located.

Having thus described my invention what I now claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

l. A car truck including in combination.

4oppositely disposed side frames, a transversely arranged hanger rod, brake shoes carried by said rod, a brake beam connecting said shoes and slotted means associated with the side trames for reciprocally mounting said hanger rod and normally retaining it in a retracted position.

2. A car truck including in combination. a-

transversely arranged hanger rod, brake shoes carried by said rod, a brake beam connecting said shoes, and oppositely-disposed side frames slotted longitudinally to receive said hanger rod in sliding relation.

3. A car truck including in combination a transversely arranged hanger rod, brake shoes carried by said rod, and oppositely disposed side frames slotted at an angle to their longitudinal 1' axes to receive said hanger'in sliding relation and normally retain same in a retracted position.

4. A car truck including in -combination a transversely arranged hanger rod, brakek vshoes carried by said rod, and oppositely disposed side frames having bosses upon their inner faces provided with longitudinal slots to receive said hanger rod in sliding relation.

ln testimony whereof l -ax my signature,

in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

'FRANK' L.

M, L. COLLINS, ROY SMITH. 

